Agnes Haaga

Agnes Marie Haaga is recognized as an internationally known pioneer in child drama, Agnes was respected and loved by her many students over her 30 years of teaching. Agnes was also devoted to her family. Optimistic, positive and generous, interested in all she met, she was admired and beloved by all who knew her. She was born in Memphis Tenn. in 1916, as the second of nine children. At an early age she became interested in drama, staging Madame Butterfly in the family garage. Upon her father's death she assumed many family responsibilities, taking care of the younger children. She received her B.A. degree from Sienna College. She began her career in recreation in the Memphis Parks Department, working with children and women's activities in playground and community centers. Pursuing an early ambition for the Broadway theater, she moved to New York, where she worked in settlement houses and in professional theater. Agnes returned to Memphis at the start of World War II and resumed working for the Memphis Park Dept., becoming Director of Drama. Following this, she engaged in graduate studies in Child Drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., studying under Winifred Ward, a noted child drama authority, who said of Agnes, "she was the most dynamic student I've ever had". In 1947 she moved to Seattle to the University of Washington School of Drama, where she became Chair of Child Drama. A leader in the field, she nurtured liaisons with community groups and theater artists, winning numerous awards, among them CTTA's (Children's Theater Association of America's Charlotte Corpenning Award (1956) and the National Zeta Phi Eta Award (1958). She was a cofounder and trustee of the Pacific Arts Center, Director of CTAA (1961-63) and head of the American delegation to London's 1964 International Congress on Theatre for Children and Youth. She published articles in CTAA/AATE journals and was anthologized in Master Teachers of the American Theatre. She was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. Upon her retirement, she was recognized as a Professor Emeritus. She was the creator and initial fundraiser for the Winifred Ward Memorial Fund, for which she won CTAA's Special Recognition Award (1979) and received the Children's Theater Foundation of America's first Medallion Award (1992). Agnes was the first recipient of the CTAA's Campton Bell Award "for a lifetime of service to theatre and youth" (1983). That service is recorded in Notable Women in the American Theatre (1989). Agnes passed away on may 9th, 2006.